Hello again and welcome back to my repurposed blog site, Phat Love Fit! I want to take things on a lighter note today and talk about some of the meals I've been learning to make or making, almost all of which I have learned from my girlfriend, which have greatly helped me continue to reach my goals.
If you've been reading my blog then you're already aware that I am basically learning how to cook from the ground up. If not, I'm very serious. I just bought my first (extra virgin) olive oil at 27 years old for cooking and I made my first chicken breast at 27 years old too, along with a now fuller than before list of meals which would probably shock you. Not to mention the lies I had believed about what foods are healthy and the reasoning behind them. We'll get into that last one at a later time. As for now, lets talk, very briefly, about my history.
I grew up with a Semi Truck Driver as a father and a mother who worked various jobs, usually multiple at one time. With my father being gone for weeks at a time and only being home a few days at a time, my mom made me meals as a kid when she was home and usually that meant it was something quick, convenient and cheap. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy what I ate as a kid, I had a lot of good food! However, as a result, I feel like nothing more than a statistic on a chart proving why overweight children develop bad eating into their adult years.
I love my mom and will defend her to my last breath, but I do acknowledge that I didn't eat hardly any healthy foods as a child and that is the reasoning behind a lot of my misconceptions on health and why I never tried certain foods. I was of the mindset for so many years that if I hadn't had it before, it's best to just tell people I don't like it to avoid any conversations getting too personal. As I've been dating my girlfriend Jennifer longer, I've shared with her some of my reasons behind my food choices, habits and even goals to break the bad decisions.
She is nothing but supportive! All she really wants is honesty. For years, when we were still just friends, I omit the fact that I didn't like tomatoes and this is a classic example. I would force myself to eat tomatoes because I thought it was healthy so I should get used to it and make myself like them and also, I thought she would like me less as a person if I didn't like tomatoes (Yeah, I know)!
I don't think there's any study a person could create or participate in that would definitively prove that eating (or not eating) tomatoes can stand alone prove that it will make you a healthier or less healthy individual. I think I was just blinded by my attraction and wanted to improve my image more than I wanted to believe the lie that "Its healthy so make yourself eat it". Needless to say, I do not eat tomatoes and I accepted that it's okay to not enjoy certain foods.
More to the point I was making though, my mom didn't have me trying veggies or some fruits in my childhood so when I got older and realized I had been spending my whole life making mostly bad food decisions, I had to want to change in order to actually start making progress. Come to find out, cooking is fun! Not to mention, it can be very photo worthy when it's done right! I am only trying to make progress towards a better, healthier me now as I acknowledge my past, accept my present and work to change my future. I'm on track and I'm getting closer every day to having the body I want through making the right choices.
Still though, I have those days every week where I cheat and find myself in a drive thru ready to hand over my debit card to buy something easy and ready to eat when I get home. Best part about that though...It's okay! If you live your life wanting to be perfect and beating yourself down for making mistakes, you'll never make progress. So go ahead and order that Cane's chicken combo and get yourself a large sweet tea! Just make sure you're only doing that once or twice a week with the purpose of eliminating it down to a few times a month, if at all.
I know I am going to fall short of perfection or any inclination of glory in relation to my weight loss or body goals. So going into them with a renewed and, quite frankly, realistic outlook has been making my journey this time around so much easier. Now don't get me wrong, I still have moments of doubt, frustration and worry. I ask myself if one day my gout medication will wear off and I'll get bad arthritis pain in my ankles or feet (or even worse, it will spread to my hands and/or knuckles).
Small confession, while I'm on the subject, I have been having issues with my hands. Mostly my right hand, but I am getting horrible muscle pains in front of my thumb on the palm of my hand and it makes it hard to make a fist or use a fork to eat with, it will even hurt when I use a pepper grinder to season my food. It worries me that this is from an already known health related issue like my gout but when I see my doctor in March, I will bring it up and worry at that point. Until then, I am sort of dealing with the pain because, oh yes, it hurts quite a lot (especially in the morning).
However, onto more fun things, let's dive into the pictures I have to share with you and the story behind each one. Short note, I don't have these in any particular order and I will start taking more photos going forward but I only have a few to share with you today. Look forward to more pictures and even recipes in my future posts!
This was one of the absolute best waffles I think I've probably ever had in my life. You think I'm kidding but when you make from scratch waffles with fresh blueberries and pair it with eggs, sausage and hash browns, you tell me what you could ever compare it to. I think you'll find the list of breakfast items is extraordinarily low.
This is one of the first things Jennifer taught me to make and its still one of my favorite dinner meals! I will definitely be posting a follow up with the recipe I was taught for baking brussels spouts. Oh! The chicken is easy peasy too and so many ways to season it makes it a perfect dish to try new ideas on!
You can think what you want about me learning pasta so late in life but lets instead celebrate the victories. This one being some really tasty spaghetti I made with my favorite noodles and some ground beef I cooked up! Add the pasta sauce of choice and its done! Best part is you can cook the beef in the same pan you made the pasta in to save dishes. Win-win!
Back to that chicken breast, when I learned the magic of seasoning and paired that with potatoes I chopped up and cooked myself, why would I pay $15 at a restaurant when I can spend $5 and make it myself!? So juicy and the seasoning here was just *muah!* You have got to try this one!
Learning eggs was something I learned how to do late but not 27 years old late. I just wanted to share this to show off how beautiful this came out. To answer anyone's question, I made five eggs but that's very rare for me. It was all I was eating for awhile that day so I made an extra couple eggs to fill me up.
Beef steaks is what I've most recently learned to make and boy are they tasty! This one is also really easy to make and pairing them, again, with those potatoes and some mac n cheese Jennifer and I found at Same Club made it even better! Carful on the bread though, it was tasty but pretty big too!
These are just a few of the examples I have to share today but there will be more to come! I am extraordinarily proud of myself and I know I will continue to keep learning new recipes and meal combinations. I appreciate if you made it to the end of this post! I had a lot to share with you today and I am hoping you'll stay for the recipes I'll be sharing soon and the journey of my weight loss.
Until next time, friends, have a great day!
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